The Government needs to catch up with early years professionals

Last month, at the height of the pandemic, we were asked by the STA (Standards and Testing Agency) to review Test Items for its third attempt at Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) in September 2023.

This was a surprising invitation because our national research into the 2019 Pilot of Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) with a combined a survey of 1,285 teachers’ views and six in-depth case studies of schools found that:

‘Baseline assessment is at odds with what we know about child development. Instead of building confidence and trusting relationships through active play, children are forced to sit still for up to half an hour to complete an inappropriate screen-based, tightly-scripted literacy and numeracy test. For some four-year-olds, trying to settle into their first experience of school, it creates inappropriate stress, emotional upset and uncertainty. Contrary to claims that children don't know they're being tested, we found that children are well aware that they are taking a scripted computer test, and that they have a sense of whether they've performed well or badly. There is a danger that they will then label themselves as good or bad learners’ (Roberts-Holmes et al, 2020, p.60).